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June 28, 2011

G78: Phillies 5, Red Sox 0

Cliff Lee (9-2-0-2-5, 112) pitched his third consecutive complete game shutout, and extended his scoreless inning streak to 32 (5th longest in Phillies history). In five June starts, he has allowed one run in 42 innings.

Lee did not allow a hit until the sixth inning. Boston had four baserunners, all of whom were the leadoff batter in their respective inning:

Beckett (6-5-5-1-1, 84) allowed a two-run home run to Domonic Brown in the second. Brown doubled in the fifth and scored on Lee's sac fly, and Shane Victorino clubbed a two-run dong in the sixth. Franklin Morales and Bobby Jenks - both activated off the disabled list before the game - each pitched an inning of relief.

The next few days figure to test our collective patience and sanity. Brace yourself: Boston fans are coming. ...

They've gotten out of control, these Boston fans. They've mutated. There was a time when they took a perverse pride in their suffering, when they romanticized their lack of sports luck. Then the Pats won and the Sox won and the Celtics won and, more recently, the Bruins won. ...

The people in Boston have become obnoxious, arrogant, condescending. ... an openly supercilious lot who never hesitate to tell you exactly how good they have it. ...

[T]he fans there have become the sports equivalent of the mouthy businessman who gets loaded at the bar and won't shut up about how much money he's made and how much better his life is than yours. He drones on and on about his summer house and his expensive cars and his cushy Rich & Famous lifestyle ... Their gloating is insufferable.

HAHAHAHAHHHHA!

Over at the Globe, Chad Finn tries to make sense of Gonzalez's apparent disappointment that Bruins fans did not riot after winning the Stanley Cup ("So, more rioting=less obnoxiousness. Got it.") and chides him for basing his opinion of Boston fans on ESPN, WEEI, the Montreal Gazette, and the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

(Well, at least Gonzalez did not suggest (as a PI columnist did in March) that fans bring D-cell batteries to throw at the Red Sox this week.)

A Simple Request to the Boston bats: Make Tito Apologize.

Beckett has not pitched since June 15, when he one-hit the Rays, as illness has laid him low. He still leads MLB with a 1.86 ERA.

Lee has pitched two complete game shutouts in the time Beckett has been out (June 16 and 22) and has allowed only one earned run over his last four starts (33 innings).

The Phillies (49-30) have the best record in baseball, with the Yankees (45-31) and Red Sox (45-32) at #2 and #3.

Philadelphia is 10th in the National League in average (.246), 7th in OBP (.320), and 11th in SLG (.373), and 8th in R/G (4.05). ... Their pitching staff is 1st in ERA (3.05), shutouts (11), and fewest walks (207), 2nd in WHIP (1.191, only .003 behind Atlanta's 1.188), 3th in opponents average (.243), 2nd in opponents OBP (.301), and 3rd in opponents SLG (.350).

"And out of curiosity, I've just run the [Baseball Reference] play index for 49 plate appearances (the amount [McDonald]'s amassed so far this year) and again come up with no players who have posted a -8 OPS+ or worse over that span. If Darnell McDonald was cut right now, he'd be the only player in history to have held his job for that long while being that bad. I ran it again with a .311 OPS instead of the -8 OPS+ and unsurprisingly, the list was also empty."

Ok, last comment on here so I don't know what is happening in the game until I can watch it later in archive. Just know that John Gonzalez "Gonzo" is hated by most Philly bloggers -- generally considered to be the worst Philly sports writer -- who therefore rarely dissed Red Sox fans, plus, some of them admitted they were just as obnoxious if not more so. Enjoy the game!

I also was at a Sox game in Philly where Beckett homered. The 2006 one. I was gonna link to a pic I took of it, but instead I'll show you this one from that same day--it's Manny avoiding signing for little kids and making excuses. Oh, wait, I mean the opposite.

I don't think in a million years you could convince me that what just happened is better than having an actual batter in the lineup in place of the pitcher. Maybe not a million--if society changes and pitchers learn to hit major league pitching one day, I'd be all for it.

PPS: I did not say "what just happened" is better (as you can plainly see). It's not like NL play = GIDP and AL play = guaranteed HR. Pretty sure when we watch regular AL baseball, the Sox GIDP or strand runners all the time.

"Every single time I hear Victorino's name, I think this same thing. Every. Single. Time."

Woohoo! Then we'll have to be on the lookout for more AMCTeamers, eh? It's funny, Kim and I always do that voice, but specifically with "-areeno!" So, yeah, Shane's name always makes us think it too. And should that ever get old I see us transitioning smoothly into "Shane! Come back!"

ugh, as a Phillies Fan I like to say most of us here think John Gonzalez is a idiot, and he just showed it there. In fact one of the few fans I like to see in town are red sox fans, and I know plenty of people would agree with me there.